Uncharted
by JanFL
Summary: "It seems from what we can gather, you've been transported here from an alternate universe by a wormhole of some sort; a breech in the galaxy somewhere. We don't know why or how you survived, but we would like your cooperation in helping us figure that out." I was alone in an alternate universe where everything that I had ever done in my life didn't matter. No, I just didn't exist.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey FanFiction Nation, my name is JanFL and you're about to read my Avengers fic! **

**A bit about this story for you crazy summary readers: I've always wanted to create a story that bridges our universe with another more awesome filled one and what other universe to create for inter-dimensional story telling than that of the world of Marvel, specifically the Avengers story line? Now I know what most of ya'll are thinking, "It's too grand and too broad a jump! You're not going to be specific enough with Marvel and modern day differences and there's no lore backing up if things really are that much different than that of modern day Earth besides the implement of super-heros!" Well FanFiction Nation, I've thought of that and here's my solution: the story isn't going to be that broad. Now, I can imagine the horrified look on your faces and maybe to you, that decision isn't okay. However I know that my story doesn't need a complete telling of how Stark Industries being around create such a monumental shift when it comes to the United States being a fundamentally dominant world power in terms of weaponry and innovation. Or that Captain America is alive and thriving it would pressure Germany/Russia to go back to the lab to recreate a super serum in order to compete with the growing amount of advantages the United States has now that Earth's mightiest band of successful human trials decided to call Uncle Sam their home. I don't need to address those issues in this story because simply it's not a story like that. It's a "Let's save the world" plot line with a little romance and not-so-happy (maybe?) ending; a feel good story about personal trials. **

**Ya know, maybe I didn't need to go on this rant but it's a "just in case" kind of thing if any comic book enthusiast like myself comes along and tells me my lore is too farfetched. Get over it bitches! There's always one. **

**Well that's all for today Nation! Make sure you clickty-clack that favorite/alerts button and be sure to leave a review describing exactly how you feel about this story and get in on the action! My name is JanFL, you've just been authors-noted and I'll see you next week!**

**Wide Awake - Chapter One.**

_Day 65 of the longest friggin engagement on the face of the planet... (5:48 am)_

_I really don't know what the hell I'm doing. I mean, I love Eric. He provides, he's smart, and he's everything I want in an ideal husband. _

_But something just doesn't fit, ya know? I keep this stupid journal cause my wonderful future sister-in-law insists it will help the stress but it seems to just cause more problems than I'm willing to have right now. I'm 23 years old, a social psych __**post-**__grad__ and I've never been to a frat party, had a wild night on the town, or been to a night club. I wake up, run, go to school, go to work, go home, dance and run my vocal scales (which I really have no idea why I do it anymore anyway, no one is ever going to see me dance or hear me sing again...), shower, then sleep. Just to wake up and do it all over again. Now I'm going to get married after my masters to the typical husband of a successful career woman: someone just as successful and detached to life as I am. I just want excitement ya know? I wanna feel like I matter to someone, that I can be extra-ordinary, like my comic books. Eric calls them silly, but I still read them as if my life depended on it. I couldn't wait to see The Avengers come to life on the big screen. Sometimes I wish I was like Black Widow or maybe a female version of Captain America. Oh how I'll kill for a chance to be like them, like any of them. I just want to go on an adventure... Maybe take Andrea with me, I mean; I can't leave my best friend behind. We're brothers for a reason! _

_I miss her so much. I was watching Thor last night and just balling my eyes out missing her. I remember back in our undergrad years when we'd dress up as comic duos, our best year was when we dressed as the female versions of Thor and Loki, and the names just kinda stuck with us. We even have tattoos to prove our dedication to our sibling rivalry. She's such a strong personality and lime light seeking attention hog like Thor, blonde hair to boot. Myself, I have dark locks that are on crack and the social aptitude of a pocket protector. On top of that I was at the time a borderline pathological liar. Wasn't my fault, I slightly blamed it on Andrea. She'd always have these cool and adventurous vacations to God knows where, while I slave away attending extra seminars or internships that gave me scholarships for school. I just wanted to fit in, and all Andrea had to do was just walk into the room and lights shine off her perfect punchable teeth. Haha. Well that escalated quickly. The past is the past and we love each other despite the striking similarities of our comic book counterparts. We're just over the things we can't have and embrace the things in each other we wanted (masochistic huh? Haha) I wish she were here… I wish so many things could happen. _

_But as usual, reality hits me straight in the face with the 6 am alarm clock, and it looks horribly muggy and fog like outside. Looks like another day another dollar for me Journal of Stupidity. Maybe I'll interview an inmate that doesn't focus on my boobs today. Yeah Right, and my name is Scarlett Johansson. _

_Off for the morning run, later journal._

_Lorena Day. _

I pushed myself back from my computer desk and closed my laptop. I really didn't want to run today. Now-a-days here in Boston, most mornings were humid and eerie. When I first moved here from my hometown in Texas for my graduate courses at Harvard, I thought it would be a new chance to discover new horizons, for me to really find myself. But what happened? About 2 months into living in a shabby apartment space I bump into a well suited man picking up his younger sister from across the hall and I instantly became attached. We've been dating ever since and about a year later, he popped the question on my birthday. It wasn't like I was so fed up to have said no, but I wasn't too bothered to not say yes. I honestly think I was just too afraid to be on my own again. The summer before moving I was recovering from my last breakup, and I wasn't too keen on having so much free time on my hands. I needed someone or something to fuss over when I wasn't swarmed in papers or work, and I think Eric found me amusing enough in the beginning to give me himself to fuss on. Now, he apparently loves "every bit" of me, regardless of my constant lack of affection which he brushes off as 'nerves'. My guess is that all his fraternity brothers are finally settling down and he wants to one up them with an interesting and independent wife, rather than just a trophy.

Ack, what am I doing? Highlighter green bra and white tank? Grrr.

How I even managed to think enough through my little rant to attempt to change into clothes, I'll never know. Anyway, I think this black tank will be more fitting to hide my wild choice of bra today. Looking in the mirror and putting my hair in a high pony tail I catch a glimpse of my arm tattoos. Running my hands over my arm, then down my side tracing my side tattoos through my shirt, thinking about how impossible Eric's mother was being. I open the medicine cabinet and grab the Derma Blend makeup kit that I'll use to cover up my body art when I get close to the campus. Yes, she made me cover them up in public when we were to be seen together; and heaven forbid I ask to show them off in my wedding dress. Sighing, I put the cover up in my wristlet pouch and walk into the kitchen.

I go about my morning routine, still trying to analyze my sticky situation of my new fiancée and my runaway bride 'nerves'. Eating some fruit, I make my choco-banana crunch protein shake, my own creation. Chocolate whey protein powder, milk, bananas, and some vanilla granola, for that little crunch like as if you're eating cookies and cream ice cream. I have to be creative like this, because my future mother-in-law insists I try to lose more weight to fit in any dresses she's going to take me to try on in about a month. My concern is how am I going to look to people when I'm 130lbs (too skinny for my build) and trying to act like I'm perfectly healthy? I was by no means skinny when I first moved here, a whole 215 pounds, squeezing into a size 18 pant. Once I started dating Eric, we started worked out and I confided in him while having coffee at his mother's house I wanted to lose more pounds. It was that fatal mistake that Elaine decided to pop in and "over hear" my confession and instantly sink her manicured claws into my journey to be fit. Now, thanks to her relentless devotion to making me look like a Slim Jim, I'm now 185lbs and squeezing into a 14 on a good day. Not good enough for her apparently.

In truth, I'm happy with my curves. It's the body I've always dreamt of when I was heavier. I just wanted to be able to shop in a regular store and not resort to online ordering. But when you have a 110 lb Chanel addict whose ass probably never even made a dent in the couch cushions telling you to work harder, things aren't very easy.

I grab my wallet, keys and iPod, put my engagement ring on a chain around my neck, and lock the door behind me to start running towards the campus. It's about a 3 mile run to Harvard campus from the apartment home I live at that's about a 15 minute walk from my work, where my work clothes and a locker room calls my name. I made this route habit early into my relationship, running at 6 to the campus to visit Eric in his early morning internship at his favorite professor's law firm, having a larger breakfast, then making my way back by bus. Sometimes I'll run back depending on how much time I need. I don't usually go into work until 9-10 so it's essentially the perfect schedule. However, this morning I dreaded the breakfast I was going to have with Eric. His mother was going to be there to "check up on me". Honestly, I have one mother, I really don't want another.

I start out as a jog, seeing as I had an early start writing in that damned journal. Eric's brother's wife Sophia suggested I start one, saying it helped her instrumentally when she was planning her wedding. At first, I was using it to keep up with all the appointments and details I wanted in the wedding, being excited about the supposed "best day of my life". However, it slowly turned into all my doubts and fears and wonders about if this was the best decision in my life. I often called my mother back in Texas seeking reassurance. Usually she just said "You need to be happy, regardless of what commitments you have." In a way, I really didn't want her to say that, because I don't want the end of my relationship with Eric to end because of me. In another light, I wanted to hear her give her underlying statement of support in case I did screw things up. I just didn't know what I wanted to _be happy_. I would end conversations with her feeling more frustrated than before. My mother had always been aloof like that, I guess that's where I get my roundabout decision making from that got me in this situation. If I had just said no to Eric, I wouldn't be in this mess. Though I'd still be fat… At least I'll be skinny after all this. That's a pro… right?

Shaking my head, I make the turn to start running on the Longfellow Bridge, turning up my iPod to try and blast out all the thoughts running through my head. It's one thing that I've always loved about running, it's that I have my iPod and I won't be disturbed from my music. I was born and raised knowing all types of music ranging from the 20's big bands to today's top 40 with Ryan Seacrest. I am currently listening to my favorite mellow artists Sara Bareilles, just letting her voice flow through my ears. About the half-way point on the bridge I stop and look at the dark water below me. Leaning on the railing I just look out into the mist and fog over the water, just pondering the biggest question in my life right now.

What am I doing with my life?

I mean, yes, marrying Eric is the biggest problem at the moment, because that's an actual choice I can make. But what about my career? I'm about a half year away from my graduate degree, working at the local Boys and Girls club as a mediator. Is that really the career I want for the rest of my life? I want something fast and exciting. I want to live as if I'm really alive. I just… I can't even begin to describe what I want.

_I just don't want this. _

I turn my back to the railing and lean against the cool metal, grabbing my phone and dialing the numbers by heart. I listen to the ringing until I hear the familiar and warm voice on the other end.

"This is Andrea! Leave a hardy greeting and I'll ponder the thought about getting back to you!" Came the booming voicemail from the other end of the phone. Beep.

"Hey Thor, it's your more intelligent, handsome devil of a brother." I start and tap my fingers on my hip, "Listen, uh, I have to talk with you. It's of grave importance, I know you tell me not to get myself into trouble and you know I never listen. But I really need your help out of this one. Call me. I just… don't know what I'm doing anymore. I miss you. Asgard isn't the same without you." I hang up the phone and lean back on the railing again, throwing my head up to the sky and sigh. The one time I really need my best friend huh? I look out onto the street and watch a couple of cars drive by.

I remembered when I was younger, I was dancing and singing around as my mother recorded me on her camcorder. I watched those videos with her the last time I was down visiting her. The younger me looked straight into the camera and said "I'm going to famous mommy! I'm gonna change lives with my voice!" I would bet that my six year old self would've probably called me a loser if she saw me now. Things really are so simple when you're younger huh?

I unlocked my iPod and used the iCould app to look at my journal entry about how I would kill to have as exciting life as The Avengers. As any Marvel character really. Well, maybe not the stupid short lived ones, but even they had their one issue of fame. To have the chance to really make a difference in people's lives, to have a say in how to protect the world, and make it a better place to live. I mean, sure, I'd like to think I'm changing lives at the Boys and Girls club. However, all I do is just help coordinate events and fetch coffee, with the occasional sit down parent meeting if their kid isn't doing too hot in the program. Not making much difference there.

I originally wanted to be a police officer, but my father basically shut it all down for me. It would give him a heart attack if he found out his only daughter was in any PD. So I shot for a civil employment at government agencies like the FBI or local courthouses. No one wanted a non-criminal justice student working there. So I took to being proactive in the community with non-profit organizations, rather than reactive with the government. Even then, I already listed my job description, and it's not helping anyone. I'm so close to just giving up, but I can't. Not when there's this horrible aching feeling that I'm meant to do something more. Something worth mentioning, something more than just community service hours.

What is that ringing noise? Are my headphones whacked?

I take my headphones out of my ears and turn off my iPod and turn back to the water, I hear this ringing over the sound of traffic and the water slushing under the bridge. I look around and try to listen to where the sound was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from behind me…

Turning around and seeing nothing but a bright blue light and feeling abnormally warm was the last sensation I felt before I was knocked clear over the railing and off the bridge.

**So? Tell me what you think! Leave a comment and lemme know! **


	2. Breath of Life

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews and following stuff! So I changed the title, I like it a bit more than the previous, mainly because of the reasons behind it. If you can get the connection of the chapter name to the content (as well as the overall title to the story) there's another pleasant surprise added to your reading enjoyment. I'll reveal more on the reasons why I do that later so you can go back and re-read with "an all new re-mastered experience!" Like when Disney decides to revamp old movies because they don't have anything better or creative to give the youth of America. But that's just my opinion. Anywho! I also updated a possible pairing for Lorena, so be looking out for that! It's possible that the pairing my change! So yay suspense! Anyways, here's the next chappie. **

**Breath of Life**

I wake up to someplace bright and hear a beeping noise. Am I in a hospital? I feel cold… What happened? All I remember was running… Andrea… Blue…

I try opening my eyes, but the light was too bright. I lift my arm and confirm it that I was hooked up to hospital machines I hear someone shuffling around my bed and a soft murmur of voices around me. I slowly open my eyes again, the brightness not so bad. I groan softly and rub my eyes while someone silences the heart monitor. I hate hospitals with a passion, but that's another story and I figure I'd be grateful for the first responder who helped me.

"Miss Day?" I look towards the voice and see a blurry figure. I know that voice. Why is it familiar?

"Miss Day, do you know what day it is?" I close my eyes again and cover them with my hand; a massive headache comes through my skull as my body starts to register what happened to me. "Miss Day?"

"The 3rd of March. 2012." I croak out. Pain all along my back, my head and the heels of my feet, like I just fell straight on my…

"I fell… off the bridge." I say out loud. "There was a bright blue light… and I was warm. Then I fell." I opened my eyes again and looked around, really taking in where I was.

It definitely was no hospital.

"Miss Day, I'm going to ask you a series of questions that will be instrumental in your stay here with us." The scene was bleak enough. I was in a white room, like a hospital room, the monitors, the privacy curtain, but there was one big factor that made this room different. There was no window to look outside, just a one way window. It looked harmless enough to a regular citizen, but I knew that one way window.

This was a prison hospice room. I had seen one on an internship with the Harvard Psych Club. These weren't rooms you'd want to be in, especially back in the 1800s to the early 1900's. I sat up immediately, fully alert now, looking in at the woman who was reading my charts, her back facing to me.

"And here I thought I was being given a touch of heavenly light." I mumbled incoherently. The fear settling in while my eyes kept scanning the room over, taking all the details in and trying to formulate a plan of escape. Something in the pit of my stomach was giving me warning that I might need it.

"Where am I? Who are you?" I ask, trying to be threatening. "I know this isn't a hospital. Who's watching us behind that glass?" Sounding a bit bolder now, getting my voice back

"Very observant, but I think I should be the one asking you the questions." The owner of the voice turned to face me. I dropped my jaw straight open and looked in absolute awe.

"Sc-Scarlett Jo-Jo-…Johansson?" I choked out. No way. No flipping way! All my excitement levels were damn near about to soar, instantly forgetting about the not so happy situation. She cocked her head to the side a bit and faltered.

"What did you just call me?" She asked. She looked at me threatening and I managed to let out a small laugh and smiled widely.

"Oh my god, you really are Scarlett Johansson! Holy shit!" I instantly became as giddy as I could be, given my current position. "I love all your movies! Well… some of them. But please don't be offended! You're so amazing!" I squeak out.

"I'm not an actress Miss Day. My name is Natasha Romanoff. I'm with an agency called-"

"S.H.I.E.L.D? You're joking right?" I laugh aloud. She gave me an incredulous look.

"How do you know about S.H.I.E.L.D.?" She asked me with the look still on her face. I looked at her with the same expression.

"What do you mean? It was in the movies." I look at her with a "duh" look. When was she going to give up the charade? "Honestly Miss Johansson, you put up a good act, but I know who you are and I would love to sit and talk to you about everything in The Avengers movie, but I kind of fell off a bridge so I really need some medical attention." I groaned sitting up more. I thought she would finally crack and introduce herself formally so we could get on with the whole meet and greet so I could get a picture.

"Movie? You know about the Avengers?" She approached my stretcher now, trying to pick and pry my answers in her head.

"Scarlett…" I was beginning to get a little scared that she wasn't playing around.

"My name is Natasha." I'm getting scared now.

"Scarlett… Are you kidding me? Quit messing around." I attempt to make a lighthearted joke again. I mean, come on, it's Scarlett effin Johansson. She can't possibly think I wouldn't know that.

"This isn't a game Miss Day. You better start talking, cause you're not in a good position right now to start playing dumb."

"I'm not playing dumb! Your name is Scarlett Johansson." I retort, the fear in my voice becoming evident. She was about to say something when she reached for her ear. Turning away she murmured some words and replied with a "Yes Sir" before turning back to me.

"Well, my name isn't what you say, and neither is yours, Miss Day." She walked up to the end of my bed and gripped the end rails. "I know my name, and I would like to really know yours."

"What are you talking about? I'm pretty sure I know what my own name is." I said, getting more confused and angry.

"We didn't find your name in our files. We checked your ID." She snipped at me.

"You went through my things? Isn't that an invasion of privacy?" I snipped back. What the hell is going on? Seriously? Is she fucking delusional or something? _Where am I?_

"Not when you do this to the Longfellow Bridge in Boston." She threw a file folder at me; I opened it and covered my mouth to silence the gasp. Inside the folder, was a picture of the bridge, a 5 second interval in-between images, I literally saw myself fall from out of nowhere off the side of the bridge in a blue colored blast that destroyed most of the railing and side of the bridge, plunging myself into the bottom of the riverbed.

"You nearly destroyed the bridge and it's in reinforcement repairs as we speak, you also blew out the power within a 5 mile radius. We scanned to detect gamma radiation and you were covered in it."

"Gamma…radiation?" I looked back down at the photos, my mind had pieced it all together already, but I just couldn't… what?

"No. Gamma radiation doesn't exist… It's made up." I mumbled as I shifted through the file and stared at the pictures scattered now on my lap. My memory was flooding, trying to pick apart everything I could from my jog this morning. My eyes widened, and the pit in my stomach began sinking in as my mind slowly started turning. The blue light, waking up in a holding cell, Scarlett Johansson telling me I did this damage… No. Everything in my head was just screaming "no", like a full choir in a quiet room singing out the single syllable. There was just _no_ way…

"No…"

"No what Miss Day? If that's your name." She smirked at her retort.

"Lorena Day _is_ my name, and you better stop fucking with me, _Scarlett_." I got angry with her. "This isn't a game, and I'm not laughing anymore. So just stop and let me see a doctor for my injuries." I will not accept that the impossible has happened… There was just _no way_.

"I'm not laughing either. You seem to be having a hard time processing this so I'm going to make it simple. Who are you and where did you come from?" She was practically hovering over me, but red is blinding my eyes. I'm not backing down.

"Lorena Day IS my name! And this isn't funny anymore! Natasha Romanoff isn't real!" I cry out, desperation sounding in my voice. "I live in Boston! I attend grad courses at Harvard! I'm engaged to Eric Dowery! You're a famous Hollywood actress! And these pictures are faked!" I threw the file at her face, not caring how she reacted. I start pulling the wires and needles from my skin. "There was no gamma radiation; the bridge isn't destroyed because all I did was just fall over the edge! I want to go to a _real_ hospital and I want you to stop acting like what I'm saying isn't the truth, because it is!" I yell, trying to get off the bed. I saw that two other "agents" walked in the door, one put up his hand and asked me to not take a step further. My mind is racing. Where the hell _was I_? Why was Scarlett Johansson saying she was Agent Romanoff? Was the blast really a… no. No. There has to be a way to prove them wrong…

"I want a phone call." I said aloud. I walked towards the two guards. "I want to talk to my family." I saw that they were bracing to take me down. Well I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I ran towards them and crashed my body against theirs. "I want to make a phone call!" I shout. "LET ME MAKE MY PHONE CALL!" Panic was taking over my body, I kicked and screamed until one of the guards lifted and then hurled me down on the concrete floor. I heard Scarlett yelling at the guards to not hurt me. I just kept screaming into the hallway, asking to call Eric, my mother, Andrea, anybody. I need to know I wasn't crazy. I just want to wake up from this horrible dream. I want to talk to my mother. I feel a prick on my lower thigh and I claw at anything as I begin to get drowsy. I hear myself sob and call out to make a phone call one last time. Then everything went black.

And everything was quiet.

**Alrighty Fanfiction Nation! Make sure you clickity clack that follow button and leave a review! And with that, my name is JanFL, you've just been updated and I will see you next time! (Did anybody watch Philly D? Amazing I tell you!)**


	3. Uprising: Part I

**A/N: Thanks for reviews guys! And as for the Guest reviewer, well, a special shout out to you will be implemented in a future chapter for your fact checking. No hard feelings Point Break, you've got a mean swing. ;) I'm sorry for not updating as quickly as I would like. So I'm going to give you two updates tonight. I'm a starving college student with an entry level job and my rent is sky high. So after slaving away as customer service rep, I don't really want to do much when I come home. On top of that I've been trying to clean my house and get groceries to feed my ungodly fast food belly. For real guys, McDonalds is so bad for you. **

**Kakashi Forever – I just cracked open your story, and it's not bad at all! I like that you have a different perspective on what kind of a reaction your character brings to the whole "alternate universe" theme our stories have going. I'm on chapter two and I can't wait to read through and catch up to the sequel. I encourage my readers to take a look at this story while you're waiting on my chapters to upload **

**Anywho, hope you enjoy this chappie. A bit short for my liking but I'll try to lengthen it a bit before I upload it. **

**Uprising: Part I**

I woke up, this time in an actual hospital room. Slowly letting my eyes graze over the room for confirmation I wasn't in the cell and trying to make sure what I had just experienced wasn't real. That it was only a dream. Pain screamed through my head, I shut my eyes again and reached back to feel a bandage. I softly sighed, not remembering the head injury being quite this bad. I turned slowly to face the window, I knew this hospital. It's the Lenox Hill, one of the places I visited Eric's grandmother before she passed. I saw it was a sunny day outside and my eyes burned at the natural light. I followed some birds as they took off past my window and out into the upper-east side of Manhattan. Why I was such in a location was unbeknownst to me. I tried to make a move to and sit up but I noticed that both of my hands were cuffed to the bed. Immediately I started to remember my supposed dream, I shook my bed as much as I could try to break free from my restraints. My head severely disagreeing with me made me collapse back against the bed. I heard a door open and hoped to turn and see someone familiar, someone to tell me it was all just a nightmare and the only reason for the restraints was a mental breakdown or something. Anything to stop the charade.

Scarlett was there, along with the infamous Samuel L Jackson. I scoffed and turned my head back to the window, wishing the birds would come back to give me company.

"How are you feeling?" Samuel asked. I just glanced at him from the corner of my eyes then back to the blinding window again, shutting my lids for a moment because of the pain before speaking.

"Like an excessive force lawsuit beginning." My voice was hoarse, and the statement sounded more like a groan of discomfort than threatening.

"Your shuffle with my agents caused you a bigger head injury than my onsite medics could handle. This is all we could come up with on short notice."

"I guess Guantanamo had all their rooms booked?"

"Miss Day," Samuel sighed, "I understand that our first encounter wasn't the best. I know you're in shock, but we really need you to clear up some issues we have." I shut my eyes tightly, trying to wrap my head around what was really happening. "I want to explain this a little better than my agent here. She seems to have forgotten how to be… delicate in a situation as unique as yours." He moved to the end of my bed, I didn't turn my head to face him. I kept my eyes looking outside the window, waiting for the birds to come back to me. Part of me really wanted to believe that this was a trick, and Sam and Scarlett would break character, start laughing, and allow me to squeal and cry and punch them in the arms while telling them how much I enjoy their movies. Another part of me just plain refused to believe these were the actual actors I had idolized as a kid, and a very small, quiet part of me wished to accept the situation; a small part that I profusely shut up with calling it insane.

"It seems that," Sam continued. "From what we can gather, that you've been transported here from an alternate universe by a wormhole of some sort; a breech in the galaxy somewhere. We don't know why or how you survived, but we would like your cooperation in helping us figure that out."

I was alone, in an alternate universe where everything that I had ever done in my life didn't matter. No…

It just didn't exist.

My god.

My mom, my dad, Andrea, my family, my friends…

Eric.

"We know that," Sammy Fuckin Jackson continued. "That this is a real shock. It's a real shock for both of us, that we couldn't find you in the system, and that the damage done to the bridge was from you, that there's a whole different universe out there. But know that we're working to find out whom, or what did this to you."

None of that existed anymore. Everyone that I knew, could have possibly run into, is gone. Even if they did exist, there's no record of me anywhere. They checked my ID, my wallet had my social in there. They would've probably flipped every stone to find out who I was. That's why they're coming to me for answers.

"I don't exist." I said out loud. My voice sounded hollow, cold.

"We're still looking for any sign that you," Scarlett said and paused, trying to put it _delicately_, "have records. We're confident that we'll find some-"

"You won't. I don't exist here; otherwise you wouldn't be coming to me asking me for information." I stated bluntly. I heard a soft sigh and heavy footsteps come toward me.

"We seem to think that someone or something is messing with space and time in-between our worlds, causing a gap to open just for a moment, taking anything with it to the next world." Samuel explained. "It seems like nothing was taken to your world, but, well, as you can see, you were brought to us." I didn't say anything. I honestly just wanted to scream.

"We're trying our hardest to get you home and figure out what caused the rift. But we need you to-"

"To become your experimental plaything… For you to analyze, pick and prod until you're finished with me." I stated so cold I made myself shiver. The truth was spilling from my lips and it hurt me just as much as it caused tension in the air.

"Well I wouldn't put it like that." Samuel countered.

"I don't care what politically correct terms you would use to make yourself feel morally happy with your inhumane decisions Mr. Jackson. You did a bang up job so far, don't let me stop you." I looked at him and Scarlett for the first time. Scarlett was visibly taken aback. I saw her body tense up, while Samuel Jackson got semi-annoyed with me calling him by his real name.

"I'm not sure if that was a slur to make me back off Miss Day, but I can assure you I won't be nice about it next time."

"I can assure you, _Director_, I'm not playing nice at all." I used my fingers to quote the word "director" to make sure I got the point across.

"So will you play at all, Miss Day?" Sam asked finally. I turned away and looked outside while a silent tear slid down my face, then turned to face Sam with the most vicious look on my face I could muster, another tear chasing after the previous on my cheek as I choked out the words:

"Over my dead body."

"Well, we can't let that happen." Samuel said, reaching over to my morphine line. My eyes widened and I shook my body as much as I could against the bed railing. He began to press the pain button and I felt my I.V. line move into my bloodstream.

"Rest up Miss Day." My eyes became heavy and my body slowly started to drift. I couldn't hear Sam's murmur over the rush of sleep coming over me. I made up my mind then, that I wouldn't go down without a fight. I wouldn't let them control me.

**Thanks for reading! Make sure you clickity-clack that follow button, post a review, get involved with the story! My name is JanFl, you've just been updated and I will see you next time!**


	4. Uprising: Part II

**Sorry for such a late post! Just not enough hours in the day! Here's an update for you guys and once again, thanks reviewers! Here's your shout outs from the last chapter:**

**Cara Tala: Hope you like this chapter! I think Fury was just trying to be cautious in a shady way? I'm not sure how I want to write his character but it seemed fitting for that to be his first impression for the story. Kind of like a recoiled sense of kindness because he did try to explain the situation and give help to Lorena. **

**LLPottle : Thanks a bunch! Hopefully this chapter will be even better!**

**MidnightShadow07: I'm sure that will happen eventually, it's a really big thing I want to emphasize on Lorena a lot, but not so much that it'll become redundant and annoying. It's all about finding the balance. This chapter boils over a bit, and you'll see why.**

**Kakashi Forever: You'll know it when you see it! And you're welcome, I'm glad you took an interest in my story. It's nice to communicate with others in this community. **

**Onward to the next chapter! I tried fleshing it out a lot more than what I had previously done but unfortunately this is a short chapter. Well, shorter than usual anyway. I'll try again to double post tonight/tomorrow morning (U.S. Central) however I'm a poor starving and crazy busy college student so patience is greatly appreciated. **

**Uprising: Part II**

"_Lorena? Hey it's Andrea, from your criminology class? Listen I'm kinda down on my luck for this week's test and my friends and I would really need your help since you did so well on the last one. Anyways, give me a call at…" _

I just let the messages continue as I threw my backpack and hoodie on the couch and made my way to the kitchen to see what was in the fridge to drink. I decided that some scotch would be good for the night, considering what my day had been. It was one of those autumn Texas days where the morning was cool, midday was hot, and there was a ridiculous wind chill in the evenings. Needless to say it was either sweat, or freeze while waiting for the bus to arrive and take me home. I chose to sweat.

"_Anyways, hope to hear from you! We all really want to pass this class. Call me!" Beep!_

I gave the answering machine a huff and a puff as I sat on the couch and set my scotch down and began taking off my tan, shin high suede boots. I just finished an intensive eight page essay on how I would conduct a case study on college students and anxiety when test taking. It was a hypothetical paper, I honestly wouldn't conduct such a study because that's not really a topic I wanted to research on but hey, beggars can't be choosers when it comes to ideas for a lengthy paper. I knocked it out as fast as I could and emailed it to my professor for a quick revise, the entire time I kept telling myself that this would only be the beginning and if I could get through these first couple of years, I'd be writing papers about topics I honestly cared about.

"And away you go." I said as I pressed the "Delete" button on the machine. Honestly, the nerve of that girl. She knew I was smart and that I had already completed the review for the test. She only wanted to be my friend for her benefit, and as soon as she was done with me I'd be in the dark again. It's how it always was with pretty girl types like her. At school, I was constantly the outcast, almost as if someone stamped a label on me that said "Hazard." You'd think stereotypes like that would just fade away after high school but life doesn't work like that it seemed. I was the quirky, dressed differently, nerd girl that was being summoned by the Playboy Girl herself in her time of need. It was really annoying but I guess it could be worse. I could be on the opposite end of their affection. Instead of needing help, they could be the ones giving me reason to need it, more on the medical side than intellectual.

It started all the way back when I was young. I've had many calls and parent-teacher conferences about it since I could remember. It would be the same story, I was a great student, answered all the questions right, polite, conversable, a delight for any teacher to have around, however I just couldn't connect with kids my own age. My mother blamed it on her not being able to provide another child because of medical reasons, but she did what she could. She would put me in play dates with the other stay at home moms in the area. But that didn't work so well when most of them were better off than us. Mom didn't want that kind of a passive-aggressive life for my childhood and she certainly wasn't the type of person to showboat even if we were wealthy, so she played with me by herself. She's one of the main people who taught me to imagine. I remember vaguely a cardboard box that we'd decorate into some kind of prop almost daily for our adventures. My stuffed animals would be personifications of my imaginary friends and mom would be the narrator or (usually) the voice of reason when the adventure went too astray. When I started school I guess I was so lost in my own world of make-believe that I didn't really want to come back out from that cardboard box and make real friends. I guess that's my main reason for wanting to study psychology.

I wasn't sure which specification of psychology I wanted to get into for my masters; I figured it would be a lot about kids and outside the home influences. However a lot of my decisions right now with my psychology career being influenced by my Criminology class at the moment. I figured that part of it was my good natured, community caring cop dad who was my bright light in all the muck of my life. Ever since I decided to move out of the house last year, he would bring his squad car around my block just to make sure I was safe. He even got the neighborhood watch to give him a shift or two when the usual officer around here needed some off days. Mom was equally as protective, but in her own motherly way. She made sure I had locks on all the doors and a speed dial set in case of emergencies on my land line. On top of that, I received almost daily calls from her. It seemed overbearing sometimes, but I do love my parents, and they just want to see me succeed.

"_Hey Lorena! It's mom!" _Speak of the devil… not really.

"_Just calling to see how you were doing sweetie! I just got your letter from the Daughters of the Republic; they decided to give you some more funds for your scholarship than we thought! So you don't have to worry about your rent for another month or so. Your dad went by and shut the windows for you again. You need to be more careful since you're all by yourself! Anywho, I'll see you this weekend? Your father and I want to go take family pictures at the patch again this year. Call me so we can meet for breakfast before we go, love you!" Beep!_

I looked at the answering machine again, and downed the rest of my drink before pressing the 'Delete' button. It was nice knowing my parents were so loving to me, and it was really nice that I'm getting more from my sponsors. Things were tough, but I swore that I wouldn't be a burden on my parents. I worked on campus as well as a part-time job plus all my scholarships and one small loan. I guess while I was so focused on my school and being independent, I guess I felt… lonely? I'd never really had feelings of loneliness before, not even in high school cause all I did was study and read. Now that I'm on my own and by the time I get home I was too exhausted to do anything but relax and let my mind wonder to real problems. I guess the anchor to my cardboard box ship finally reached the bottom.

The bottom kind of sucked to be honest.

_Ring! Ring! Ring!_

I looked at the phone and checked the caller I. D. It was the last person I wanted to hear from. I let the phone keep ringing until the answering machine picked up the call.

"_Hi, you've reached Lorena Day's home phone. I'm not here right now so please leave a message after the tone." Beep!_

"_Uh, Hey Lorena? It's Andrea again. Listen, we uh, we're going to go meet up at the Starbucks next to school so if you want to meet us there that would be awesome. Please give me a call to let me know if you're coming or not. Bye." Beep!_

_Beep... beep... beep... beep..._

I groaned and started to feel an ache in my lower back and legs. I moved and started to move my eyes but there was a blinding light keeping them from opening. I blinked several times before I was able to glare at the source of the brightness.

That's when I noticed.

There was a different ceiling.

I sat up quickly; looking at the new surroundings which were mostly off white walls and fake plants, I moved my hands to get up but noticed one was handcuffed to the gurney. Of course it wasn't a dream. Of course I was still in this hell, and of course they'd keep me locked up. I looked out of my corner of my eye and saw a black figure. I turned to focus on it when the red hair suddenly came into view. Her jade green eyes struck an irritable string in me. Why was she going out of her way to make my demise all that more miserable? I groaned and scowled at her before lying back on my bed and closing my eyes again before reopening them. I looked around a bit more to see the holographic screens and expensive technology to know where I was taken. It seemed that I was moved into a medical rehabilitation center that was built into the notorious Stark Tower.

"You've been out for quite a while." Scarlett addressed me.

"Seems that I haven't woken up yet." I shifted uncomfortably in my bed, no thanks to the cuffs. "Scarlett." I replied. She shifted herself and stood, briskly walking over to the counter where she was rummaging around where I couldn't see.

"I don't know why you keep calling me that name. I can only assume that is my doppelganger from your world." She rummaged more and it was making me uncomfortable. "We'd like to know more about it and about you, since we can't find your records." She turned around and presented herself holding a tray of food. She walked over to the side of the gurney and placed the tray in front of me.

"We're only trying to help." Scarlett commented. I could see through her act. She maybe a super spy, but she's one of the famous comic book Avengers. I can call her bluffs like I can tell you the sky is blue. I felt something stir in me right then. I could feel my sanity breaking while I looked into her fake, inviting eyes and I saw it. I saw the emotionless, heartless mission to get me to just submit to these crazy crack pots and tell them any information about me. Probably to laugh at the torture they are forcing me to go through. I thought I literally heard the crack of me just going completely batshit crazy before I made my next move as I smiled at her.

I threw the tray full of food right up in the general direction of Scarlett. She covered her face as I swung my leg and kicked her full on in the stomach, knocking her back into the counter area where she was uncovering my food. I laughed out loud. This was just too great, wasn't it? Being locked up in a fictional world with a movie star who thinks she's really the assassin she thinks she is? I could just laugh. I was laughing. I was laughing so hard I didn't realize that the star was up and moving towards me. I tried swinging but my laughing just wouldn't stop. I was defenseless until she dragged me back on the bed, that's where I gave her a really hard time.

"You're going to make me sleep again?" I screamed, kicked, squirmed, anything to make it difficult.

"Can't deal with me huh Scarlett? Where's that assassin training now huh?" Words were just spilling out of my mouth. "You can't control me! You can't force me to submit to you! Fuck you!" By this time, I wasn't sure if I was all there. I could hear myself grunt, laugh, bark almost… It was… I was insane.

That's when I felt the prick of the needle and my eyes growing heavy again.

**FxL**

I hadn't seen Robert Downey Jr. yet, but a part of me didn't want to get sucked in more to this nightmare than I already was. Scarlett visited me every day, tried to get me to eat. I would throw the food tray at her, take needles out of my arm and purposefully ruin monitors. It came to the point where I was strapped to the bed most of the day. At night, Paul Bettany aka "JARVIS", Stark's notorious computer sidekick would enable sound proof technology in my room so I could yell, scream and sob my vocal chords dry. I just couldn't believe I was literally alone in the world. I missed my family, I missed Eric. I just missed. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact I wouldn't see anyone I ever knew ever again. Even if I was able to find them, they wouldn't know me, they wouldn't recognize me, and I wouldn't even know how to introduce myself. If I had seen my parents, with different people, different kids, I couldn't handle that. I wouldn't be able to hold it in. I would just die.

I wanted to die.

However a strong emotion of survival and hope wouldn't let me be. I _had _to find my family, they we're the only ones that would put this stupid charade to an end. Sam and Scarlett wanted me to think there was no hope, maybe a plot to get me to submit to whatever crazed plan they had for me. I convinced myself that they were batshit crazy. Possibly doing this kind of shit to get some feeling in their soulless hearts cause millions of dollars didn't satisfy them anymore. It's not like the victims could say anything, they we're Hollywood famous actors, it's everyone's favorite characters against some nobody. So I had to play this game. I had to get a plan to get to a phone, to call my mother. I called her constantly; she'd know something was wrong if I didn't call her for at least a week. I needed a plan to get me out of the restraints. Something that was solid.

So I sat and thought.

First I needed to get out of the restraints, which meant I had to be nice to Scarlett. So the following days I would have to allow her to spoon feed me, being hesitant at first, to make sure she didn't notice I was up to anything. She would probably be very skeptical, but my acting skills would be solid enough I think. I knew she would notice if anything was gone from my plate so stealing silverware was out of the question. I let my mind wonder. I noticed the times I was allowed to go the bathroom that there wasn't any cameras in there, and the cameras inside my room didn't really get a good angle inside. So that was a possible lead. I just needed to get out of these damn handcuffs...

The next day, Scarlett came in and I didn't do my usual grunt and growl. It made her very suspicious. She looked at me with weary eyes as she set my tray of food down on the counter space, turning to me before attending to the food.

"You're not going to fight me today are you?" She spoke to me. I had to make my moves very precisely for this to work. I had to make it believable that I was done misbehaving and having a mental breakdown. So I just glared at her and recoiled to a sitting position, my knees to my chest and my arms at the right side of my bed, thanks to both of my hands being cuffed to the railing. Scarlett turned away from me and began to cover the food and set up to attempt to feed me.

"What changed?" She asked. "You couldn't have done this overnight." I glared at her again when she looked over her shoulder to made eye contact. I turned my face away, muttering a good "Fuck you" to keep up the rebel act.

"Guess you didn't change then; just being quiet today." She sighed. I could hear the disappointment in her voice a little. I guess it's working. She turned with a bowl and spoon in her hand and sat by my bedside.

"Will you eat today?" I looked at the food, then looked at her and scowled. She looked down at the food, stirring the oatmeal. "Look, I know it's hard. You wanna be tough and strong. But we both know that this isn't easy for you. You missed your family." Family… How dare she.

I looked at her and I felt tears pricking at my eyes, I did miss my family but I wouldn't let her think she was getting to me… Or maybe…

I let the tears fall as I stared her down, then I looked away in what I could muster up in shame.

"I dreamt of them last night." I choked out.

"You want to go back to them." She responded. I think she was falling for it. The tears may have been real, but not what she thought was the meaning behind them. I just had to keep up the charade long enough to see what I could do in the bathroom. Only then will the ceiling fall down on her little Mother Theresa angle.

"More than ever."

"Then you have to let us help you Lorena." She touched my hand and I jumped at the touch. Her grip tightened, to what I figure was her reassuring me. I moved away slightly, and she backed off. We looked at each other and I searched her face. Then I saw it. She fell for it. I swallowed hard to stop myself from smiling.

"Looks like I don't have a choice." I responded with a fake, sad, smirk and looked at the oatmeal. "Now can I eat please?"

**Alrighty Fanfiction Nation! Make sure you clickity clack that follow button and leave a review! And with that, my name is JanFL, you've just been updated and I will see you next time!**


	5. You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us

**Hey guys! So here's a chappie. Hopefully there won't be mistakes this time, haha. Thanks my awesome reviewers Kashi, LL, and Cara. Y'all are the reason I don't scrap the story. Happy Reading. **

**Oh! Ten points if you can name the person I portrayed my med intern after! I'll give you a hint: it's a TV character.**

**So, if you guys haven't figured it out the chapter name thing yet, I'll just spill the beans cause I feel like I'm creating more of a feel of the chapter with the title than an actual connection from the title to the content of the chapter but basically I'm using song titles for the chapter titles. So I'm kind of trying to create a playlist for you guys to read to get a feel for the emotions in the chapters. It's all connected I swear so hopefully I'm doing a good enough job for you guys to actually **_**make**_** the connection. Lol. **

**Anywho, here's a chapter!**

**You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison.**

"Just one more blood sample Miss Day, then we'll be done here." The med student reassured me. He removed the purple labeled vial from the needle and inserted a yellow labeled one. Feeling the tug and push of both vials caused me some slight nausea, but I tried to keep on a straight face. I couldn't break down in this place with a simple needle prick; my pride just wouldn't let me. The med student looked up at me, and then averted his eyes away. I cleared my throat and tried to make this encounter not so awkward. The guys name was Scott, and he had been doing my blood work for the last week or so I think; time flies when you don't have a clock. He was doing an internship here with Stark Industries, apparently working under a doctor that was hard to understand. Apparently Scott's boss is one of the leading research doctors in the medical area of Stark's R&D department, an Indian man named Howard Malhotra. He was in charge of redeveloping Captain America's super serum, but more in the direction of solving the world's case of cancer. This is what I found out about him from our last encounter. However, our last meeting was not chaperoned. Scarlett watched from the couch behind me, I could feel her eyes boring a hole into the middle of my back, but I couldn't let that stop me from learning more about what I was dealing with outside my room's high tech, finger print scanning door. Hopefully all she would deduce from this was that I was trying to be friendly, get back to normal and accept that I had to start my life over again. Harmless, innocent talking with a side of friend making, that's the angle I needed to pull off.

I had developed a plan since I was allowed to walk around my room without cuffs, provided that when someone wanted in, I had to handcuff myself to my bed/gurney. Until said visitor was okay with the cuffs off, that basically was the only time I had them on, unless it was night time, then the cuffs were on and the bets were off. However, Scott boy here was naïve and quick to trust me; a poor but lucky mistake to make for my case. He was tall and athletic, his hair a dark brown cut to resemble a tussled bed head boy look that probably made the girls in the building swoon. His voice was soft but authoritative and intelligent and his eyes were a knock out shade of hazel. I felt bad for dragging him along the little charade I was pulling but I had no choice. I need to get out of here and he was the only middle man to stumble into my plans. I checked out the bathroom and there wasn't much for me to go off of, however the piping of the sink wasn't as high tech as the rest of the building and I could easily make a problem off of them when the time was right. I needed a plan once I was free, and the only plan I had come up with until Scott was "run like hell". Wasn't much of a plan.

"So Scott, how's your doctor boss-guy treating you?" I asked softly. Scott looked up at me apprehensively, probably unsure if it was okay to discuss things like that to a prisoner (even though everyone insisted I wasn't). "I mean, you were telling me that it was hard to understand him and he had a bit of a temper." I continued, "Back home, my boss was Chinese, you could imagine how hard it was to adapt to really broken English." Scott chuckled a bit. I could just hear the ice break. Hopefully this turns out well.

"Yeah, he complains about a lot, most of it in his language. I just hope he isn't cussing me out in a different dialect."

"Trust me, it's better that way than insults you can understand." I laughed. Scott smiled and nodded as he took out the vial, then the needle and proceeded to cover the wound with a Band-Aid and gauze. He held my arm at my wrist while he placed the gauze down with his other hand. I could feel his thumb unconsciously tracing the bruising and scabs on my wrist from being handcuffed all the time to my gurney, a clear indication that I was a prisoner, and not just a victim of a possible alternate-dimension kidnapping. Scarlett and Samuel claimed it was just a precaution to the safety of others including myself, but I knew that those lying sons of bitches just wanted to keep me chained up. Good thinking of them though, I was getting into Scarlett's mind, slowly but surely, and I was bound to make a getaway soon. I just needed this part of the plan to succeed. I just needed Scott to let the information slide. I didn't notice his eyes looked up at me then followed my line of sight to my wrist, he let go instantly and stumbled over his apology.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean…" He looked up at me with sad eyes. I hesitated for a second before responding.

"Don't worry about it." I caught myself holding his sympathetic gaze and shook out of it. I couldn't let this train off its tracks. "All things heal with time."

"Are they really keeping you here? This is against the law you know." He whispered to me.

"I really have nowhere else to go; besides, I think I'm starting to like it here." I smiled at him. He smiled back and made a scoffing kind of laugh, like he didn't believe me. I cleared my throat again and tried to get him back on track, hopefully the flirting and warming gestures got me somewhere. "So you were saying?" Scott looked at me odd, and then seemed to remember what we were talking about.

"Oh, yeah uh, I heard that he was basically uprooted to take this job before anyone else could. His family isn't even done packing up their house in India and it's been a couple of months already. Something about his wife's family not wanting her and the kids to go."

"Must be tough for him." I sympathized. "At least there's phones this day and age right?" Scott was finishing up his kit and glancing at Scarlett. I hoped that the next sentence coming from Scott's mouth would be the information I needed for this pseudo-friendship with him to be worth exploring. Either that or Scarlett was going to pick up on my conversation focus and see into my little plan. My nerves were getting to me as I gripped the side of my bed tightly.

"You'd think family calls would be happy but man, the guys in over his head. I mean, sometimes when the other staff and I go upstairs to lunch, as soon as we exit the elevator we can hear him in his office arguing, probably with his in-laws or maybe the movers. We want to help but he always turns us away. Maybe a pride thing, ya know?" Bingo.

"Maybe a culture thing too." I agreed, giving a gold star to Scott in my head.

"Yeah, I just hope it works out for him." He ended the conversation then. "Well I'll take these to Dr. Banner and I'll give you the results tomorrow." We said our goodbyes and he exited the room. Scarlett didn't say anything as she followed him out. I had to assume she didn't notice anything otherwise we'd probably have a Hollywood stare off involving looks like "I know what you're up to" and "Try and stop me". So after that, I wondered around my room, hesitantly looking at the sink in the bathroom. I thought about my plan; see if it will actually work. I knew more about the building now, at least where I wanted to go anyways. I know Scott comes from a couple of floors below me to collect my blood samples from his apology the second time for being a little behind schedule. It's to the left of my room when he enters and exits so I know the general direction of the elevator. I know that the lunch room and office of Scott's doctor is above me and one of the rooms closer to the elevator doors. So I've narrowed down my directions some. I just need a way of protecting myself and possibly have a intimidation element as well. I had to get my hands on a weapon.

Suddenly the door to my room whooshed open, causing me to jump a little. I was too focused on my plan and Scarlett caught me off guard. She stared at me with curiosity.

"Jumpy today?" She commented. She had a tray of food in her hands; I was guessing my lunch for today. She set the tray down while I hopped up on my bed and cuffed my hand to the railing.

"No, you just surprised me. Thought I had to be tied up _before_ you came in." I replied. I looked at the food on the counter where she prepared my drink and utensils. "Yay… It's the meatloaf again." I droned on sarcastically. I didn't really mind the dish, I've just had better.

Scarlett set the food down on the table next to my bed and stared at me hard. She then did something I wasn't expecting. She walked up to the gurney, and unlocked my cuff. One more rule of freedom was that I had to sit there cuffed to the bed until I ate every last bite of food in front of me. Sucked a lot, and for the first couple of days I put up a fight and stayed on the bed for a good couple of hours. But lately I had started reducing the reaction time in attempt to show progress. I stared at her, as if this might have been a test to see if I would just attack her or remain calm.

"Trick?" I asked.

"No. You earned it." She said turning away from me towards the door. "I'll be back for it in an hour." With that, she left the room. Not only was I allowed to eat freely, I was completely unguarded. I don't think I could've prayed for a better opportunity.

But all I had was an hour.

**FxL**

Doctor Banner, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts , and Steve Rogers were gathered in the radiation department when Natasha walked into the room. Steve was looking at Lorena Day's file again on a Stark tablet on the couch while Pepper walked around, returning emails, scheduling appointments and other things the CEO of Stark Industries would do on her tablet. Banner and Stark were busy trying to decode the video footage to try and get a lead on whom or what has a hold of the Tesseract, or possibly some other inter-galactic thing that could have an effect like this, and why they were causing rifts between different dimensions. Pepper plopped on the couch next to Steve as he was the first to notice Natasha's entrance.

"How is she?" He questioned. The Captain looked up from the file with hope in his eyes. He had been watching a few security feeds of Lorena's stay at the rehabilitation floor and wasn't too pleased with having such a distraught dame in his sight that he couldn't help in any way. He somewhat sympathized with the girl, having everything she'd known be ripped away from her in an instant. Though she had some technological advances over him, the same hurt and depression of truly being alone was something they had in common. He had wanted to go down and visit the girl, but Natasha had been insistent that she'd be the one to take care of her since her good behavior streak. Steve somehow thought that since Natasha was the first responder to Lorena's crime scene, that she felt personally responsible for the dark brunette. Still, the screaming at night right before JARVIS enabled the sound proof barrier still made Steve think Lorena was not on to a speedy and healthy recovery. He often would wake up screaming himself due to the horrible memories of the war, and by no means did he think he could ever recover, at least not anytime soon.

"Better. I think. I let her eat by herself again today. I think she's going to eat the whole plate this time." She grabbed an apple and bottle water from the fridge.

"She's eating? That's a good sign, right?" Banner asked aloud, not drifting his gaze from his monitor.

"Not sure, she was good, happy almost, no resentment or hassle. I think she's up to something." Natasha said, taking a bite of her apple and leaning against the couch where Steve sat.

"Maybe she caved in," Tony Stark chimed in, walking around his giant projection of the incident. "It's not like she has a chance, maybe she just finally just decided to get with the program." Natasha considered for a moment then set her apple down. Pepper looked at Tony sternly.

"She's going through a really tough time right now; maybe she's just trying to get over it and chose today to start. We haven't really given her time to herself." Pepper piped up.

"No, something's wrong. I can feel it." She concluded, getting off the couch to go back down to Lorena's room. "She was talking to Scott about his supervisor, making sure to keep the focus on him in the conversation. I think she's planning something. Then she didn't even have any of her snide remarks."

"Other than she hates Peppers meatloaf?" Tony remarked earning a glare from Pepper in which the billionaire's hands were thrown up in defense.

"I don't think you need to raise the alarm for an intern sharing office gossip Natasha." Pepper countered. "It's good she's talking to people, it means she's making progress." She moved things around on her tablet screen, re-reading Lorena's file again. "I just hate how she thinks were the enemy. It makes me feel so untrustworthy."

"Trust me Pepper, untrustworthy is the last word anyone would associate with you." Banner told her while fussing with the monitor in front of him.

"Thanks Bruce." Steve turned and stood from the couch to face the assassin.

"Maybe I could go with you, Agent Romanoff?" Steve asked. "I have a feeling I know what she's going though, ya know, cause we don't have anyone familiar." Steve was exposing himself a bit, to sway Natasha to let him come.

"I think that's a great idea, Steve. It could benefit her if she had someone different in the room for once, don't you think?" She looked at Natasha expectantly, using the language of women to try and tell Natasha to lighten up on Steve.

"Excuse me, maybe you didn't read the files, or rather lack of, but we don't know anything about this girl. What if she's a master assassin or a humanoid alien sent to rain chaos on our planet? Or worse?"

"Tony, we've stuck more needles in her than a pin cushion. She's human." Banner countered.

"Well if what she says is true, then that's all she needs is to have a giant brut jock from high school come and give her advice on making friends." Stark retorted, "You saw the way she acted with prom queen in tights, what makes you think she'd act different to Roaring 20's here?"

"Cause I know how she feels." Steve raised his voice in annoyance. "I know what she's going through." He turned back to Natasha. "She's been alienated and told that everyone who ever cared about her is gone, of course she's going to be hurt, angry, afraid even, but I can help her Agent Romanoff." He pleaded with Natasha, and though she took Lorena's recovery personally for whatever reason, she caved into Steve's bidding.

"Fine, but you don't speak unless I tell you, we're gonna go down there and-"

"Mr. Stark, I'm afraid Miss Day has escaped her room and is somewhere on the medical floor." JARVIS interrupted Natasha's plan of attack.

"No." Natasha breathed. Tony looked up and moved to a monitor "JARVIS, show me her security feed."

JARVIS quickly replayed the feed, seeing that Scott decided to come back in early with her results and probably to flirt with her more. Lorena motioned to come into the bathroom.

"Clever girl." Banner noted. The camera replayed Scott walking into the bathroom, getting on his hands and knees to get under the sink probably (the camera only was able to view his legs), then his feet going limp and Lorena dragging him to the door to use his fingerprints to get out of her room. Once in the hall, she turned to the camera, threw a wad of hand soap at it to cover the lens. JARVIS cut the feed to go to another camera angle outside Lorena's room. The feed was about five seconds off and it showed Lorena fighting one of the Stark Tower guards. Once Lorena got a hold of a gun, she looked around then aimed and fired at the camera.

"Agent Romanoff, it seemed that Lorena has disarmed a security guard and is shooting down cameras."

"How'd she do that? Tell me how she knows how to do that?" Tony pointed at the screen then to Pepper.

"How am I supposed to know?" Pepper screeched. Natasha cocked her gun and went to notify S.H.E.I.L.D. through her ear piece about the breech. Steve tried reasoning with her, but Natasha refused.

"If she's going to play it that way, it doesn't matter anymore." Natasha pushed passed the group and ran into the hall. Steve stared after her incredulously before turning to the rest of the group, a determination set in stone in his blue eyes.

"We gotta find her before she does." Steve said aloud.

"Duh!" Tony retorted, wide-eyed. In a heap of cluttered feet, the group left the radiation lab in search of Lorena.

**Alrighty Fanfiction Nation! Make sure you clickity clack that follow button if you liked the story and hey, maybe even leave a review… especially if you have your own playlist/addition/picture to the story that you'd like myself and this community to see. I'll even put it up on mah tumblah for all the people to "ooo" and "ahh". Cause you know, you guys are just amazing. **

**And with that Fanfiction Nation, my name is JanFL, you've just been updated and I will see you next time! **


	6. Decode

**What's up FanFiction Nation?! My name is JanFL and here are some review responses and shoutouts for you today!**

**AdonCa – I honestly really want to throttle her as well. But it's kind of her trying very desperately to not fall into a Stockholm syndrome like scenario. We have to remember that she's a psych grad and a very rational/stubborn person, much like her alternate sibling identity, Loki(which we'll get to know that side a little bit this chapter). So her stubbornness is her trying to be logical through this situation, which in turn is completely illogical because she's not accepting the reality. See the method through the madness kind of? I'm pretty sure anyone would go nuts in a situation like that. So we have to give her a bit of leeway all things considered.**

**CaraTala – Refer to my answer to AdonCa. But yes, she's not thinking correctly in the sense of just assessing the situation as what is real. I think it's kind of interesting to see a break in the psychology of a person who knows psychology. A bit ironic I think. **

**Also I'd like to thank my 22 followers and 7 favorites! I never thought I'd have that many! It's really humbling and heartwarming. Anywho... Onto the chapter!**

**Decode**

"Ugh, come on Loki. Give me a clue somewhere." Andrea Walker whispered to herself as shifted through Lorena's desk, shuffled through papers and found nothing. No indication of where her best friend of almost five years was, or ran off to. She had gotten Lorena's voicemail about 2 weeks ago, then that night, Eric had called her in a panic. Lorena had missed work and a neighbor had seen her off for her morning run that she'd never come back from. Andrea flew down in a hurry from her New York law firm office where she dumped a minor case she'd been working on her intern and submitted a leave of absence. Since then, she's been in and out of the Boston P. D. missing person's office, the Public Safety Office, The Boys and Girls club Lorena worked at, and any other leads she could come up with.

"Find anything?" Eric Dowery, Lorena's fiancée walked into the bedroom where Andrea was placed at the work desk in the far end corner of the room. Eric was finely dressed; Andrea took note of his craving for the personally tailored Armani suits and the custom sleeve cuffs he wore the times they were found in the presence of each other. _Paid by mommy probably, _Andrea thought. She hadn't met Eric before this; she knew Lorena liked to keep things private until she was sure that it would something permanent or long standing before bringing anything to Andrea for official approval. It was just something Lorena did, making sure to never give a reason for Andrea to see flaw in something or someone, almost as if to flaunt a conquest. It was the competitive edge that never ceased between the two. While it caused some tension in the past, now it's used in a more healthy way, to keep each other's personal goals and standards high; to never settle for second best. Andrea smiled softly at the thought and glanced up again at Eric.

"No. Nothing." She studied Eric, gaging his reaction on his face as she stood up from the swivel chair. Eric's brown eyes contained hurt as his hand ran through his perfectly combed dark hair. His face was strong jawed from a stressful clench and a slender nose that allowed for his thick eyebrows to be creased in worry and a tight line across his thin yet soft looking lips. His shoulders were tense under the thousand dollar suit. Though the suit and the coat hid most of his body, anyone could tell that he was a muscular man. By all means, Lorena did good picking Eric out from the bunch. She did _real good_, but something kept Lorena from introducing him to Andrea and Andrea had to find out.

_He's been with Lorena for almost two years and not even a mention of him unless I asked. Why?_ Andrea looked back to the desk and saw a line trailing down the side of the wooden structure. She touched the line along the desk and thought maybe it was a fracture in the wood, but she knew Lorena too well for that. She followed the line until she saw a tiny hole towards the bottom, that's when she noticed the line continued in the form of a box shape. Andrea grabbed a pen from her pocket and poked the ball of the pen through the hole. With a simple lift, the secret door was open, revealing a couple of documents.

_Maybe that's the trouble she was talking about on the phone… Maybe she rabbited because she didn't want to get married? Something just isn't right. Lorena knew something… and I have to find out what. _

"A secret compartment?" Eric questioned as Andrea took the papers and sat back down at the desk. "That kind of stuff is only in the movies." He rationalized. Andrea looked through the papers and just realized that it was nothing but personal documents.

"So says the person whose boss keeps his stripping money and booze behind the tacky painting on the left side of his office in a secret safe that his wife doesn't even know about." The look on Eric's face was priceless as she looked back and raised an eyebrow. "What, you didn't think you're the only lackey of Hank's that knew about his 'secret stash'?"

"Never saw you on the roster." Eric retorted.

"Wasn't up to par with my skills. Got out as soon as I found something better." Andrea boasted as she turned back to the documents. She did love a good ego stroke. Andrea was very skillful as a lawyer, while Eric played puppy dog at her first bosses firm. So naturally there was more success wherever Andrea's name was struck in the law community. She could hear Eric scoff behind her. She smirked as she focused her mind on the papers before her.

"Lorena said you had… a strong personality." Eric was careful with the choice of words.

"Is that what she told you?" Andrea replied. Lorena knew how _strong_ a character Andrea was, hence why she earned her Odinson nickname. Andrea wondered how much Eric knew about her. Either way, he'd come to find out more at a quick pace now that they were actually face to face. Andrea smirked a bit more to herself. Eric was going to have a hell of a time getting to know her that was certain. Eric coughed awkwardly and was given a slight chuckle from the blonde.

"Anything worth sharing?" Eric changed the subject back to the secret papers.

"This is just birth records and housing statements, doctor bills… the usual stuff that should be under lock and key." Andrea got up and knocked around the compartment to check if there was more inside the hidden cabinet but found nothing. She placed the documents back in their proper order and closed the panel back up. She stared at the door of the compartment for a bit; trying to think where else Lorena would hide things away from unwelcomed eyes. She'd have to look up the different kinds of hiding places online and come back later on her own to really find out what was going behind her brothers closed doors.

"Andrea?" Eric leaned forward a bit to knock her out of her trance.

"Uh, sorry." She stood up, turning off the desk lap. "I think I should check her credit records now. It's something I haven't followed up on yet." Andrea shook her head, Eric had been interviewed already by the police and he was cleared. The option was still open to Andrea though. It was evident that something was up through Lorena's previous behavior, or lack of it. She'll probably run Eric's and his mother's credit as well, just to be sure.

"You really think she'd skip town?" Eric walked back out of Lorena's bedroom, Andrea following behind him. Her heart screamed 'no' because she knew Lorena enough to know something like skipping town would've left some kind of trail, no matter how much she would cover it up. However, Lorena was a bit on the pranking side, impulsively following through with whatever irrational decisions she made and intelligent enough to improvise on the spot. This could be a huge misunderstanding, and Lorena could be laughing her punk ass off on some beach somewhere sipping on a pina colada saying "suckers."

"Well we won't know anything until I check her bank accounts." She followed Eric out the door and stood on the front steps of the small two bedroom home. She was about to climb down the stairs when she looked down to see the symbol embedded in the wood. Thor's Mjolnir encircled by a snake. The symbol was something Lorena drew way back to symbolize the unity of the two women. Andrea had the same symbol carved on the front banister of her home, letting the world know that this was the home of one of the nicknamed Odin sons. She felt the pang in her chest as she stared at the carving.

"Thank you for everything, by the way." Eric turned to her after locking the door. "I've been such a mess, I don't think I would've done all this footwork by myself, let alone as fast as you're doing." Eric's eyes softened then. Andrea remained stoic, even though there was a small part of her that wanted to give Eric a chance, that maybe Lorena just was being silly about keeping him away. Still, something was amiss.

"Don't mention it. I would do anything for my brother." She responded, as she turned to walk towards the front gate as Eric followed suit.

"Yeah, Lorena told me you guys had a little pact or something." He chuckled softly. "I didn't know you took it this seriously." Andrea almost instantly knew then why Lorena kept Eric at a distance. It took a lot of will to keep Andrea from showing Eric how _serious_ she was about her relationship with Lorena.

"Pact is hardly a descriptive word for our friendship Eric." Andrea almost hissed. Eric looked at her, slightly offended and scoffed. "You don't even know half of the woman you're marrying." Eric full on stared her down. It wasn't a good tactic as Andrea remained stone faced. She turned and began walking down the gate steps onto the sidewalk towards her rented town car.

"I have a pretty good picture." Was the response. She turned and was the one to scoff now.

"Your picture might be a half-finished painting _you_ created."

"Care to fill in the blanks?"

"That's not my job."

Eric's chest visibly puffed up as the body language conveyed off the young lawyer signed frustration.

"What happened between you two that made you both defend each other like this?"

"Because we're family."

"You're not even related."

"Blood is by no means ever thicker than water. You should know that."

"My relationship with my brother is none of your business!" Eric raised his voice as he opened the door to his car.

"The feeling is likewise!" Andrea yelled back at him. The two continued glaring at each other until both realized that the other was unconsciously blaming the other for Lorena's disappearance. Andrea's chest rose and she released a sigh of temporary truce.

"Look, Eric. Lorena is very close to me, almost special; and it took me a long time to get where I am with her. She plays her cards as close to the chest as she can get, and if she doesn't want you to know something, you'll never find out." Eric's eyes softened again. The man's posture slumped in defeat, wanting more than anything to just understand. In his heart, he knew that purposing to Lorena in the first place was a too-soon and regrettable move. Lorena was a mystery to him half the time, and Eric was too intrigued and selfish to have the passing thought that someone else would get the chance to solve her. It was that drive of Eric's that caused him to ask Lorena's hand in marriage. Now he stood in front of Lorena's closest friend, a beautiful, strong, charismatic woman that Eric would probably have dated back in his single days, that's half a decade into the puzzle that is his fiancée, and even she didn't have all the answers.

"How do I find out?" Andrea opened her car door and looked back at the man before her and shrugged.

"When she wants you to."

**FxL**

After all the fun and excitement at Lorena's home, Andrea sat in silence as she drove to Longfellow bridge, where Lorena was last seen running. There was no evidence, no video tapes that turned up placing her at the bridge, but all the city footage that leads up to the middle of the bridge, you could spot Lorena running among the few walking citizens of Boston. Andrea veered off into the emergency lane of the bridge and parked, sighing. She looked out onto the bridge where the last camera that saw Lorena was, wondering what the hell happened to her best friend. She stepped onto the sidewalk and walked to the railing where the bridge cameras stopped, her heels clacking along the cement. She looked right and left, up at the camera and down the roadway to the next. Something was just _wrong_.

Andrea turned and faced the railing, looking out into the cloudy day. A sigh escaped her perfectly shaped lips, and her soft blue eyes sparkled with threatening tears. It was a sight to see Andrea Walker crying. Not many people are ever given the opportunity. In pictures that scattered across her home, her brave face was a smile of confidence and hardy merriment. She was never one to ask for sympathy, and never one to turn away a soul in need. It was her exuberant and caring nature that caused her to reach out to Lorena, because she could see much of herself in the dark haired female. Where Andrea would boast and be extroverted in great success, Lorena's victories were small and unnoticed by many. Andrea needed to be accepted by a large populace, where Lorena only needed to be accepted by the few she thought that mattered. While the way they went about things was so different, their unyielding strength, sense of character, goals and need for success was the same. Neither women had time for tears, yet there Andrea was.

"Lorena… Please… Come back, wherever you are." Andrea whispered into the wind. "How did we get here? How in the hell did we stay separated for so long? It's been almost two years… too long to stay away. Please… if wherever you are, give me a sign." Andrea wiped the falling tear from her face and reached into her pocket for her phone. She unlocked the home screen to see if there were any missed calls from any offices she was working Lorena's case with. She was about to check her email when the phone screen became fuzzy and flashed. Andrea looked puzzled and pressed the home key to try and get the phone to reset but the fuzziness continued until the phone screen went black.

"What…" Andrea heard footsteps approaching and looked up at a passing jogger that was chatting loudly on her Bluetooth ear piece.

"So then I told Martha what I really thought about… Hello? Kelly? Hellooo?" The jogger stopped a few feet behind Andrea then looked at her phone again. "Hello? Hey! Sorry, I have no idea, my phone just died for a second there." Andrea's eyes followed the gossiping woman as she jogged on, not giving a second thought to what happened with her phone. Andrea looked down at her phone again, and walked to where the jogger's phone started up. When she glanced at her phone again, it was on and working, like it never had a problem before. Andrea gave an insightful "huh", and walked back to her previous place on the bridge, and the phone fuzziness and black out came back. She looked around at her surroundings and looked up to notice that her phone wasn't the only on one the fritz. The light pole on the bridge, directly across from where Andrea was standing was blinking and having difficulty staying on.

Andrea walked to her car, outside of the twilight zone and dialed a city service hotline. It rang a couple times before an oh-so-happy civil servant answered.

"City of Boston, how many I assist you?" The voice droned.

"Hi yes, I'd like to call in a faulty street lamp on the Longfellow Bridge. It looks like it's going to blow and I don't want anyone getting hurt if it does." Andrea replied politely to the man on the other side of the phone.

"Yes ma'am we've received calls and had someone go check it out and replace it yesterday. Did you just drive on the bridge?" The man questioned. Andrea could feel her stomach turn over. It didn't seem logical, but somehow she felt like this place and Lorena's disappearance was all connected in some way.

"Yes, it's still flickering." She managed to get out.

"All righty ma'am I'll save your call for the record and see if we can do a follow up on the light post. Thank you for your call." The man yawned as he did his job to make sure Andrea felt "appreciated". Andrea ended the call and looked back to approach the railing again. She looked over the side of the bridge into the water, out of the corner of her eye she saw something flying off one of the metal beams hanging from the bridge. She ran to the section of the railing, pulling out a spare tissue from her coat pocket and bent over the side of the bridge to just manage to yank the piece of evidence off the beam.

"Loki..." Andrea whispered as she held up the piece of torn black polyester fabric.

**Alrighty Fanfiction Nation! Make sure you clickity clack that follow button if you liked the story and hey, maybe even leave a review… especially if you have your own playlist/addition/picture to the story that you'd like myself and this community to see. I just made a tumblr for this story as I was writing the final touches so yeah, if you'd like to follow the url is unchartedfanfic dot tumblr dot com!**

**And with that Fanfiction Nation, my name is JanFL, you've just been updated and I will see you next time! **


	7. Give Em Hell Kid

**What's up FanFiction Nation?! Sorry for such a long break between chapters, I had midterms and a wedding to organize/be a part of these last couple of weeks so I apologize for keeping myself away from the story so long. I'll try to shoot out a couple of chapters this holiday break to make up for it. **

**Here are some review responses and shoutouts for you today!**

**A very happy and hardy welcome to Andy Andrews for reviewing and jumping into this little story of ours! Thanks for the review! One of my favorite sections of Fanfiction is LoTR! I'm actually about three chapters ahead in writing right now where Lor and Steve finally meet. I'm still working on the dynamics of the conversations but I think it's going to be a really sweet treat!**

**To Cara and Kashi – I'm kind of playing around story board wise with what will happen on the flipside with Andrea. I'm working with some of my friends on theories on what exactly happened to toss Lor from our world to theirs and once I get a solid plan on that is when I'll decide which side Andrea gets to reunite with Lor on. **

**Also thanks to everyone else who follows and favorites! It's much appreciated!**

**Give Em Hell Kid**

Lorena knew she didn't have much time before they came for her. Her bare feet padded the clean tile as she ran down the hall looking for a floor plan or someone to guide her to the nearest phone. Her heart ran purely on adrenaline as she slipped around a corner, almost losing her footing from the slick tile under her sweaty bare feet. She heard a door slide open and ducked in an adjacent hallway until she heard footsteps getting closer. She kept her gun close to her and watched an Indian man whom she could only assume was the doctor Scott was talking about. He walked past her down the hallway and decided it was now or never to make a move. She followed the man down the hall until she was right on his heels. She pushed him with all her might against the wall, the muzzle of the gun under his chin and her hand over his mouth.

"Please don't scream okay?" She whispered frantically. Her eyes full of fear and panic. "I'm going to let you go, and you're going to direct me to your office. You're going to be quiet and you're not going to alarm anyone okay? I don't want to hurt you, and I definitely don't want to kill you." She looked in the doctors eyes as he nodded, fear overtaking his senses as well. Lorena breathed a sigh of relief and let her hand drop from the doctor's mouth and the gun to her side. The security breech alarm rang throughout Stark Tower, and both parties looked up at the flashing lights and Lorena instantly tensed up, putting her hand over the doctor's mouth before he let out a scream. Lorena put the gun back under his chin and shushed him.

"Don't be stupid. I don't want to hurt you unless I have to." Lorena added to make sure the point was across. The doctor nodded again and a muffled agreement confirmed it. She pushed the doctor forward and they slid into the elevator, Lorena shooting the security camera out as they walked in.

"They'll stop you. Whatever you're doing. They'll get you." The doctor breathed out as the doors to the elevator shut and Lorena stood behind him, gun pointed at his back.

"How can you follow these lunatics? Just because they have money?" Lorena shot back. "I'm not afraid to fight back. You shouldn't be either."

"Look who's talking crazy now? Fight back against the Avengers? You're mad!" The doctor turned and argued with her.

"They're _not_ The Avengers!" Lorena screamed.

"What are you talking about?" The doctor almost was unfazed by the gun now, just trying to reason with Lorena. "They saved the world not two months ago! And now they are trying to save you! What world are you living in?" Lorena just stared at the man, purely shocked at his answers.

"I… I don't know." _Ding! _Lorena and the doctor faltered as they heard the elevator bell. Lorena realized that she had lowered her gun a fair amount in the screaming match, and the doctor was looking like he was gaining confidence. She quickly lifted the gun and motioned for him to exit out of the elevator first. She had a mission, and she was not going to back down.

**FxL**

"Mister Stark, I believe Miss Day took out the security camera in the employee elevator." JARVIS notified via announcement system to the group as they were checking the rehabilitation room on the medical floor of Stark Tower. Steve was already half way out the room when JARVIS continued. "She has taken one of the medical staff hostage and they are headed to the recreation floor, shall I stop the elevator sir?"

"No, don't!" Steve said, stopped mid-step.

"Yes, JARVIS. Shut it down."

"No! Stark, why would she be going up there?" Steve questioned. "If she really wanted after our information, why would she go to the rec center?"

"Maybe she wants a biscuit and tea before she steals all our information?" Stark remarked. Pepper racked her brain for an answer why the doctor would be leading her there, she recognized the Indian man as Howard Malhotra.

"Office!" Pepper shouted. "Howards office!"

"Not following Pepper." Stark noted.

"Uh…H-Howard has his personal office where his phone line can call internationally, cause his family is overseas…" She looked from her tablet watching the security feed. "She needs a phone!"

"To call her parents." Steve concluded. The group ran to the public elevator and piled in.

"She still doesn't believe she's in a different universe." Bruce finished everyone's thought.

"She's just trying to call her family. Oh God Tony, we should've seen this." Pepper put her hand to her forehead. "She just wants to go home." She leant against the back of the elevator wall, her hand holding onto the back railing. Tony took her by the shoulders and looked at her sympathetically.

"Look, this girl is…" Pepper gave him a look, Tony swallowed, threading carefully. "Lost, and we're just going to put her back in her room and get back to figuring out how to get her back home alright?" Pepper kept her look steadfast. Tony stared right back.

"Don't hurt her Tony, she's not well." Pepper answered his gaze sternly.

"I promise I won't hurt her… bad." Was the response, Pepper was about to open her mouth to protest when she heard the doors open, and a door bursting open and a mangled cry of Doctor Malhotra.

"Oh God." Pepper gasped, looking out from behind Tony and into the hall way of the rec center. Tony looked over his shoulder while Steve and Bruce piled out of the elevator and to Howard's office. Tony looked back at Pepper and gave her a determined stare.

"Stay here. I'll handle it." Tony commanded and followed right behind Steve as he rushed into the scene. It was a hell of a mess is what it was. Natasha as well as two other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents aiming guns at Lorena who was holding the poor doctor in front of her as a body shield, a gun in his back while he held onto his office phone.

"Looks like you know a lot about escaping protective custody." Natasha aimed her gun in Lorena's general direction. "Know how to handle a weapon as well."

"Lot more than you think." Lorena retorted.

"How about you let the doctor go, and I don't have to waste that kind of talent." Natasha gave her warning. Lorena just remained resigned.

"Just let me make my phone call and no one has to get hurt." Lorena warned. She moved the gun from aiming at the agents to the doctor's temple. "I'm not afraid to shoot!"

"Drop the gun Lorena!" Natasha barked back.

"Let me make my _fucking_ phone call!" Lorena screamed again.

Steve pushed past the guards and grabbed a hold of Natasha's arm and pulled it down.

"Jesus Nat, let her make the call." Steve gave Natasha a hard look. "She needs this. She needs to know we're on her side."

"I'm on the side of protecting our people, not her. You don't have the authorization Rogers, back off." The assassin spat. Steve looked back at Lorena as she stared at him, mouth slightly agape. Steve wondered what emotion was behind the girls stunning green-hazel eyes as she gazed. Natasha's two agents grabbed a hold of Steve as he let them take him back behind the doorway with Banner and Stark. Steve wanted to push against them, but he knew that it would take an altercation with Natasha for him to really help Lorena, and it would question his loyalty with the S.H.I.E.L.D. operative later on. Sympathy was in his eyes and he removed himself from the situation and hoped that Lorena would make it out alright.

"Nothings gonna get better Romanoff, it's just going to get worse if she doesn't make the call." Banner called from behind the agents.

"Please!" Doctor Malhotra pleaded. "I don't want to die!" He screamed. Natasha put her gun up again.

"Drop it Lorena!"

"I want to make my phone call!" Lorena yelled, her voice full of hysteria and growing horse from the lump growing in her throat. So close to her goal, choking back the sobs from wanting, longing, missing her home, Lorena was going to end it here and now. Either successful, or die trying. Steve was ready for action when a wave of blonde drove past all of them in front of Natasha's gun.

"Wait, wait, wait." Pepper stepped in between Lorena and Natasha firing paths, her hands up and glancing between the two weapons. Her eyes we're wide as saucers, and anyone could tell she was out of her league. However her resolve and overwhelming desire to help Lorena and save her colleague caused her to get out of that elevator and clack her heels down the hall into Howard's office.

"Pepper, uh, what are you doing dear?" Tony put on a stern face, even though he was speaking in a comedic and desperate tone.

"Trying to not get blood on the carpet honey!" Pepper replied in the same manner. Tony's eyes shifted between the two guns and their owners back to Pepper.

"I told you to stay in the elevator." Tony's voice becoming a bit more serious, Pepper remained steadfast in-between the two women.

"Get out of the way Pepper." Natasha warned.

"And let her get shot up like some criminal?" Pepper retorted. "She's just a girl Natasha; I won't let this happen, not in my house."

"That's not up to you, now step away from the girl." Natasha snapped.

"No, you step away from my employee's office!" Pepper shouted at Natasha. "This is _my_ building and we're doing this _my_ way." She looked back between the two women. "You're all going to leave this office, and I'm going to shut the door and Lorena is going to have her phone calls. Before I shut the door, Lorena is going to give me her gun and let the doctor go. Seem fair?" Pepper looked towards Lorena. The younger woman looked back between Natasha and Pepper what seemed like an eternity.

"I want them to stand down first." She finally said. Pepper turned to Natasha, and begrudgingly, after another eternity, she lowered her weapon and so did the other agents. Pepper turned back to Lorena who still held the doctor captive.

"Lorena, you can let him go now. I promise you can make your calls okay? We held up our end of the bargain, time for you to do the same." Lorena hesitantly but eventually let the doctor go. Doctor Malhotra sputtered thanks to Pepper and ran out of the room into the depths of the hallway. Pepper looked again at Lorena, then her gun. After another long pause, Lorena put the gun on the desk. Peppers picked the gun up with her index finger and thumb and haphazardly handed it to Romanoff. Another long pause between the three women as Natasha looked between Pepper and Lorena.

"You got five minutes." Natasha moved back to let Pepper shut the door. Once behind it, she turned around and looked at the exhausted young woman before her.

"Are you okay?" Pepper looked at Lorena. She was about average height, soft black hair with tried green-hazel eyes. Her skin was a slight pale, like she had spent a few seasons away from the sun, and her body was thin, not as thin as Pepper was, but thinner than Natasha. She looked like she was dehydrated, starving, and on the edge of breaking down, sending a pang through Pepper's heart. It was Pepper's first meeting Lorena, and it wasn't under the best circumstances, but hopefully some kind of trust would be established through this time they had together. Lorena looked stunned to see Pepper, but gave a silent nod in response to her question. Pepper took a deep breath and moved to the desk where the phone was dropped to the floor. Picking it up and gliding over to turn the computer on, Pepper looked towards the young woman again and tried to conjure a smile.

"Okay, let's make those calls."

**Alrighty Fanfiction Nation! Make sure you clickity clack that follow button if you liked the story and hey, maybe even leave a review… especially if you have your own playlist/addition/picture to the story that you'd like myself and this community to see. I just made a tumblr for this story as I was writing the final touches so yeah, if you'd like to follow the url is unchartedfanfic dot tumblr dot com.**

**And with that Fanfiction Nation, my name is JanFL, you've just been updated and I will see you next time! **


	8. I Dreamed a Dream

**Hey Fanfiction Nation! Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated. It seems like it's just one thing after another in my life. Last time it was my brother's wedding, and now it's my love life crisis on top of my studying for finals on top of my roommate's family visiting for the holidays. Needless to say that I have a busy schedule of vacuuming, scrubbing down floors, and sorting through my ex's crap while organizing my academic life. However I'm popping out this chappie and I'll warn a slight break between this chapter and the next. I promise Steve and Lorena will meet soon! So don't forget about me through the winter break! **

**Cara Tala: Thanks! I really like Pepper; she's one of my favorite Marvel damsels to write. Stay tuned for the next chapter or so to see how much I like writing Steve. :D**

**AdonCa: Well I really think it's just the lack of information about Lorena that causes Nat to blow a gasket and not be so diplomatic. Also, I tried (attempted, struggled, etc) to write Lorena's escape in the story in a way where Nat **_**doesn't**_** know if Lorena is a spy that blew her cover, or just a cop's daughter that's backed into a corner. There's still a lot of mystery to Lorena that I haven't written in yet, so I had to make a little leeway into how Nat reacts to her escape. But I do understand what you mean because it was the same kind of problem that I had while I was writing.**

**Kakashi Forever: I hope you like the reaction. Be warned, you might hate Lorena a little more. There were a LOT of outcomes I considered would be her reaction and what I wrote is what I figured would be the best. As I'm writing this reply, I **_**still**_** don't know which one I'm going to think is best. It's one of the main reasons why this chapter took so long to write. **

**Anywho! Enjoy the chappie!**

**Fear And Loathing. **

_Click… Click, click… Click. _

Pepper stood by the edge of the desk, looking onto the younger woman before her. Her arms crossed over her chest and her weight leaning on her right side. A look of concern washed over her face as she watched Lorena staring intensely at the computer screen of her now traumatized employee. Pepper frowned and sighed softly, knowing that right after Lorena was done, she was going to have a field day with the Indian man and his lawyers. Pepper mentally went over the basics of Howard Malhotra's contract at Stark Industries. She was sure that the contract covered situations like these, so she could have the upper hand of technicalities once she stepped outside the office. "Life threatening" situations was a lengthy paragraph in a Stark R&D contract; as well as situations with "dangerous person's". Pepper would have to calm the doctor down and escort him to her office to make sure that a report was filed and that Stark Industries would not be reliable for any "suffering" the good doctor will have. It was a business after all, and after the whole Loki – scenario with many people wanting to scapegoat the government for all the damage done to Manhattan (and in turn, the government wanting to blame the people who saved them), Tony did not need this kind of press leaking. While she felt horrible for having to save her own skin before her employee, but she had a job to do and larger problems to deal with; one was sitting in the swivel chair before here. A bigger sigh left the petite woman's lips.

_What a disaster…. _

_Clack, clack, clack! Click, Click._

Pepper realized that she was lost in her own thoughts and snapped to attention. She looked over to Lorena and noticed she was checking public files of all her loved ones names. Some had different last names, which caused some type of reaction to Lorena, some she wasn't pleased with by the look on her face. A few caused the young woman to falter, when an error code blinked red on the screen, indicating that some just didn't exist.

"How's it going?" Pepper's voice was soft and understanding. There was a brief pause of silence except for the constant clicking of the mouse. Lorena didn't make a move to look at Pepper. It seemed to the executive blonde that Lorena was hardly making any moves at all.

"Your systems are really fast." _Awfully blunt, _Pepper took note of the rasp in Lorena's voice. Pepper knew Lorena was tired, but the woman remained steadfast; dead set on finding the truth.

"Thanks… Everything is run on JARVIS."

"Figured that's what you would say." And that was the end of the small talk between the two women. Pepper didn't want to push anything that Lorena didn't want to, so instead she paced slowly around the office, keeping an eye to make sure Lorena wasn't going anywhere in the system she wasn't supposed to. Lorena just kept typing different names into the computer.

One thing the tall blonde did notice was that she hadn't looked up any important people in her life. It just seemed from the names and reactions, Lorena was stalling. Pepper decided it was best to just let her be. After a couple of more names typed in that Pepper didn't see Lorena's face paled slightly before she shifted, back facing Pepper, and slammed her hand on the phone.

"No, please no." She whispered dialing a number almost at the speed of light on the keypad. Pepper walked around to stand beside Lorena as she heard the phone on the other end of the receiver. _Ring. Ring. Ring…_

"_Hello? Hello?" _Came the voice from the other side of the phone, it was soft and sincere; much like Lorena's own voice with an added sense of cunning that Pepper could only assume Lorena picked up from her father. Pepper saw that the look on Lorena's face was borderline horrific. Lorena collected herself and stumbled over her greeting.

"_I'm sorry, I didn't understand." _Lorena paused for a second, trying to collect herself. After a pause, Lorena cleared her throat and took a breath.

"Sorry, about that ma'am. My name is Leslie Howard from Harvard University Records and Registration Office, may I speak to Lorena Day?" She spoke into the phone. Pepper studied Lorena's face. _The poor girl, she's too smart for her own good._ Of course anyone

"_I'm sorry, who?"_ Lorena repeated her own name. _"I'm sorry; I think you have the wrong number."_ Lorena cleared her throat again and coughed.

"I apologize for the inconvenience ma'am, might I get your name so we know that this number is not to be called again?" Lorena choked out. Pepper stared at the distressed woman's back. She could see the ripples of stress and the tightening of Lorena's shoulder blades. Pepper wanted to place a comforting hand on Lorena but thought better, it was best for everyone's interest that she remain at bay.

"_Oh, my name is Mary Ann Turnell." _Came the woman's reply. Lorena coughed, almost gaged even at the last name. She uttered a goodbye and hung up quickly before turning back to the computer and into Pepper's view. Pepper thought she was going to turn a shade of blue.

"Was that your mom?" Pepper asked. For a long time, Lorena didn't answer, just kept her hand on the mouse, not moving or searching anything on the computer yet.

"She still has her maiden name." Lorena whispered. "She didn't marry my dad…" Lorena feverishly typed in her mother's name; she found that she had no children. Lorena typed in her father's name; she found the worst could possibly happen.

Pepper read over Lorena's shoulder and a soft gasp escaped her lungs, _Officer Dies on Duty: Saves Hundreds from Hometown Terrorist._ Lorena's eyes watered, tears falling softly down her cheeks in a silent manner. Pepper could only look on the young woman, filling the room with a solemn silence. Pepper wanted to comfort the girl, but didn't know how. There was an unknown that Pepper couldn't just jump into that was Lorena, was it the fear that Pepper would get too close? Or was it the fear that this was a plan to escape Stark Tower? Regardless of reason, it was _fear_ that caused such a rift in the slender woman. A feeling she still wasn't used to even though her lover and employer was Iron Man. This life she led was now more dangerous than anything she ever signed up for. There were so many people in her life that she constantly worried over because of her importance and position in the billionaire's life. Apprehension to accept and care for a person was another sacrifice to make at the end of the day if she had to sign a compensation check for the families of her fallen friends and employees. Could she even make the sacrifice to Lorena? They didn't know each other, Lorena certainly didn't want to be taken care of, why was Pepper sticking her neck out so much for someone she barely knew?

"He wasn't supposed to be there… that was the day he was supposed to be with my mom." Lorena trailed off, causing Pepper to break her train of thought. "I really don't exist…" Pepper reached out and laid her hand on Lorena's shoulder. Lorena continued unfazed by the gesture, which in turn caused Pepper to apply pressure to provoke a response. When that didn't work, Pepper lowered herself to Lorena's level.

"Lorena… we'll get you home. This isn't the family that you know you have." Pepper forcibly turned the swivel chair so Lorena can face her. "You know your mom and dad are out there looking for you. You know these people aren't your real parents." Pepper kept trying to soothe the situation, but she felt that her words were getting more and more lost in the depths of Lorena's dazed eyes. Lorena finally looked at Pepper, which almost caused the blonde to falter. It was like Lorena was looking into the depths of Pepper's being, staring intensely on her face. Pepper thought about asking the purpose of the staring match but thought better and let the silence continue. She could see that Lorena's mind was working feverishly to understand the situation before her. After a couple more seconds of silence, Lorena's eyes softened, and almost defeated look took over her delicate yet strong features.

"You really are Pepper Potts. Aren't you?" Lorena suddenly and softly spoke. Pepper was taken aback by this. All she could do was nod. Lorena slowly got up from the chair, and gave a nod in thanks and went to open the door. Pepper remained kneeled down by the chair, her eyes following Lorena's movement. Something hitched in the CEO's throat, and she found herself unable to stop herself from speaking.

"Lorena… Please, don't give up." Pepper pleaded. It was horse and beseeched, probably more than Pepper would have liked it to be. Lorena stopped short and paused for a moment. Pepper waited for a response, something to signify the war was over. But all Lorena did was open the door and into Natasha's custody. Pepper turned back to the chair where Lorena once sat and placed her head on her forearm that was using the armrest to balance herself. Tony rushed in and helped her rise to her feet with a number of concerning questions and sarcastic remarks to let Pepper know she was still in trouble for her shenanigans. Steve walked into the room after warning Natasha to go easy on Lorena, earning a grunt from the assassin in response. Steve made eye contact with Pepper and noticed the hesitation in the woman's features.

"How'd she take it?" Steve asked. The pair exchanged not so hopeful looks while Tony was still holding on to her tightly and giving Steve a "do we have to talk about this now" look. Pepper unconsciously cling to Tony while she looked back to Steve unsure.

"I don't know."

**Alrighty Fanfiction Nation! Make sure you clickity clack that follow button if you liked the story and hey, maybe even leave a review… especially if you have your own playlist/addition/picture to the story that you'd like myself and this community to see. I just made a tumblr for this story as I was writing the final touches so yeah, if you'd like to follow the url is unchartedfanfic dot tumblr dot com.**

**And with that Fanfiction Nation, my name is JanFL, you've just been updated and I will see you next time! **


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